Router ?

[JackDidley]

Whats up with my wireless router? Download speed is 300 meg wired, 60 meg wireless . Router should be capable of 1300 meg download on 5g. Maybe 3 years old. They never seem to last more than 3 years. i am ok with 60 meg download but it seem like the router should deliver more.

[stevej37]

Just wondering if you noticed it particularly this am?
Reason being...I had the same problem...nothing would download without waiting. It seems to be working better now.
Comcast is my provider.

[450knotOffice]

Agreed on routers not aging well. Probably time for a new one.

I really like my ASUS AC1900 Dual band router.
https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT-AC1900/ProductPrint/#:~:text=The%20ASUS%20RT%2DAC1900%20is,600%20Mbps% 20with%20compatible%20devices.

[dad911]

I was ready to kick my new TP-link to the curb. Kept disconnecting, and 5g would disappear. speed would randomly drop to 20 mbs

After google searching and trying a bunch of 'fixes' the one that worked for me was setting the wireless channel to a fixed number, instead of automatic.

[cabmandone]

Check to see if you can get a firmware update and also do a power cycle on the router. When my router starts slowing down, I typically do a power cycle and it picks back up.

[stomachmonkey]

WIFI is not wired.

There are a whole host of things that come into play with WIFI.

First one is backhaul. Traffic is bidirectional. Wired is like a 2 lane road where traffic flows unimpeded in both directions. WIFI is a one lane where traffic needs to alternate to flow in both directions so your effective theoretical wireless speed is already half.

You can mitigate wireless backhual bottleneck a couple of ways, carry backhaul over a cable which if you are going to do that may as well forget wireless anyway. Or, dedicate one frequency to transmit and the other to backhaul. Many of your newer systems have a dedicated frequency to handle backhaul.

WIFI operates a the speed of the slowest connected device. Meaning, letting your kid attach that decades old a/b radio iPod to your network is like being on a one lane country road in your 911 and farmer Joe pulling out in front of you in his tractor hauling 100 bails of hay into town. You're stuck going 15 mph till he gets off.

Noise. Everyone has a WIFI router these days, open your WIFI and if you are seeing your neighbors networks they are creating noise.

Most consumer WIFI routers default to using the same channels. I've never seen a routers auto channel assignment work. You need to grab a utility to scan nearby networks, see what channels they are set to, probably 1 and 11, then pick channels for yours that are (if possible) 2 hops away from the congestion.

Then there is router placement, distance, walls, plumbing, glass, mirrors etc... to deal with.

Always go wired whenever possible.

[stevej37]

My internet connection is twice as fast now...as it was this am.

[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by stevej37

Just wondering if you noticed it particularly this am?
Reason being...I had the same problem...nothing would download without waiting. It seems to be working better now.
Comcast is my provider.

No, not morning sickness.

Originally Posted by 450knotOffice

Agreed on routers not aging well. Probably time for a new one.

I really like my ASUS AC1900 Dual band router.
https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT-AC1900/ProductPrint/#:~:text=The%20ASUS%20RT%2DAC1900%20is,600%20Mbps% 20with%20compatible%20devices.

That is the one I have.

Originally Posted by dad911

I was ready to kick my new TP-link to the curb. Kept disconnecting, and 5g would disappear. speed would randomly drop to 20 mbs

After google searching and trying a bunch of 'fixes' the one that worked for me was setting the wireless channel to a fixed number, instead of automatic.

I played with the chanels today. 161 seems to be best.

Originally Posted by cabmando

Check to see if you can get a firmware update and also do a power cycle on the router. When my router starts slowing down, I typically do a power cycle and it picks back up.

Firmware is the latest. Thanks to all for posting. Its not a huge problem but I would not mind it being faster. I was at a friends house an hour ago and his 1 gig service was downloading at 200 meg. Now I do not feel so bad.

[cabmandone]

What's your incoming service? I had DSL service that would drop way off due to a faulty card in the box down the road from me.

[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by cabmando

What's your incoming service? I had DSL service that would drop way off due to a faulty card in the box down the road from me.

Suposed to be 400 meg. I can get near 300 wired to the router. Probsbly be higher at the modem.

[Bill Douglas]

5GHz routers don't like going through walls, or distances. Not like the old 2.4GHz.

I've connected everything by ethernet around here and it's consistant and fast.

[dad911]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

..........
Most consumer WIFI routers default to using the same channels. I've never seen a routers auto channel assignment work. You need to grab a utility to scan nearby networks, see what channels they are set to, probably 1 and 11, then pick channels for yours that are (if possible) 2 hops away from the congestion........

Thank you didn't know there were such utilities. Just Downloaded and ran WifiInfoView. I'll be ready next time....

[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

5GHz routers don't like going through walls, or distances. Not like the old 2.4GHz.

I've connected everything by ethernet around here and it's consistant and fast.

I could do that but not sure I want to. Ive been wireless for a long time.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

WIFI is not wired.

There are a whole host of things that come into play with WIFI.

First one is backhaul. Traffic is bidirectional. Wired is like a 2 lane road where traffic flows unimpeded in both directions. WIFI is a one lane where traffic needs to alternate to flow in both directions so your effective theoretical wireless speed is already half.

You can mitigate wireless backhual bottleneck a couple of ways, carry backhaul over a cable which if you are going to do that may as well forget wireless anyway. Or, dedicate one frequency to transmit and the other to backhaul. Many of your newer systems have a dedicated frequency to handle backhaul.

WIFI operates a the speed of the slowest connected device. Meaning, letting your kid attach that decades old a/b radio iPod to your network is like being on a one lane country road in your 911 and farmer Joe pulling out in front of you in his tractor hauling 100 bails of hay into town. You're stuck going 15 mph till he gets off.

Noise. Everyone has a WIFI router these days, open your WIFI and if you are seeing your neighbors networks they are creating noise.

Most consumer WIFI routers default to using the same channels. I've never seen a routers auto channel assignment work. You need to grab a utility to scan nearby networks, see what channels they are set to, probably 1 and 11, then pick channels for yours that are (if possible) 2 hops away from the congestion.

Then there is router placement, distance, walls, plumbing, glass, mirrors etc... to deal with.

Always go wired whenever possible.

Everything he said with extra emphasis on the last line. Wireless is rarely going to end up being faster than wired in reality.

It is possible that wireless can be REALLY fast, and then can slow down over time, but that's usually due to the things that SM mentions above.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by dad911

Thank you didn't know there were such utilities. Just Downloaded and ran WifiInfoView. I'll be ready next time....

I haven't used it in a while, but netstumbler used to also be good.

And if you've got a MAC running Catalina, there's some good software built in that can give you a lot of info.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by 450knotOffice

Agreed on routers not aging well. Probably time for a new one.

I really like my ASUS AC1900 Dual band router.
https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT-AC1900/ProductPrint/#:~:text=The%20ASUS%20RT%2DAC1900%20is,600%20Mbps% 20with%20compatible%20devices.

That router costs well over $200 on internet clearance today. Probably $300 in it's hay day. That stings when you can buy new ones all day for $69.

A knowledgeable pal told me never buy a cheap router as they don't last long.

https://memoryclearance.com/rt-ac68u-asus-rt-ac68u-dual-band-wireless-ac1900-gigabit-router.html?msclkid=3bdc8d4825701e899c41d2576c9c2c d8

[john70t]

A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.

[KFC911]

Wired for performance...wireless for convenience.

It's your choice

[red-beard]

My router has 3 wireless routers built in. It is an AC 5300

2.4 GHZ
5 GHZ
5GHZ "high-band"

An AC1200 or AC1900 will only have the 2.4 & 5GHZ radios.

The high-band has the lightest loads and the most band width. I regularly get 500-800 Mbps connections.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by red-beard

My router has 3 wireless routers built in. It is an AC 5300

2.4 GHZ
5 GHZ
5GHZ "high-band"

An AC1200 or AC1900 will only have the 2.4 & 5GHZ radios.

The high-band has the lightest loads and the most band width. I regularly get 500-800 Mbps connections.

The 2nd 5GHZ is what allows that router to handle back haul separately.

It's why you see such high throughput.